[Androzani84]

Here we are, on week 3 of this project. Let’s get started.

Timeranger Case File 3: the Acceleration of a Dream, 21/02/2000

We start where the last episode set up an ending, with Tatsuya doing some prep work for his plan for income (which involves driving his stuff in with a truck), while Sion sets up a computer for Tock to interface with.



Domon points out that Tatsuya is a rich man’s son, and wonders just how much of his wealth he actually has access to, which results in Ayase calling him out for being a snoop.



Meanwhile, at Londarz HQ, Gien decides they need a better class of criminal to obtain money, and thaws out a prisoner who received 50 years for stealing 30 billion in cash (so physical money still exists in the future. Okay).



Keys reveals that despite what you might be inclined to think, freeze-compression isn’t just going to sleep and waking up when your sentence is up. He was awake and aware the whole time, but unable to do anything





But Gien and Lila stop him from tearing it off, by warning him of the Rebound effect (and every time I think of rebound, my mind defaults to “blowback” as the name), and Dolnero sets him to work. Meanwhile, Yuri puts the frozen Jecker into storage as Tatsuya prepares to present his big idea.



Namely, he’s proposing they start a service that does work for commission in order to pay the bills.



His idea is that he’ll do a karate class, Sion will be a handyman, since he’s technologically proficient and Yuri will do detective work. Call that latter decision sexist all you want, but she’s onboard with it (not that she’ll actually show it).



As for the other two, Sion suggests that Domon teach self-defence (which given the karate class Tatsuya intends to run, feels a little redundant), reminding us that he’s a former pro-fighter. Domon takes the chance to reveal why he’s a “former” pro-fighter: he was banned for life. Why?



Ayase then proves that either you don’t need to be Yuri to figure out why he missed that match, or that he’ll never pass up an opportunity to zing Domon. Probably both.



When asked what he’d like to do, Ayase insists that anything’s fine, before running off. But Tatsuya sees that he was looking at a drawing of a futuristic car, and then sees Ayase admiring a similar vehicle in the parking bay.



Elsewhere in the city, Keys and a gang of Zenits proceed to rob a car delivering money to a bank.



This of course, makes the news, which the Timerangers are watching.



Tock identifies the likely culprit as Keys, who was prisoner number 0032 at the prison (is there any significance to prison numbers, or are they random? Someone let me know), and has the ability to interface with any technology. To stop him, the group takes up a security job at another bank, with Tatsuya and Ayase in charge of transporting the briefcase in a regular car.



To facilitate this, the other three disguise themselves as security guards, sat in the actual transport trucks.



Unfortunately, Keys learns about the switch thanks to one of the bank workers discussing it right next to a computer he’s interfaced with (does do that to get a high? Or is it a lazy way to move the plot forward? I’m going with the lazy way).



Soon enough, Keys appears to attack Tatsuya’s convoy. But he gets blown off by Tatsuya accelerating, requiring that he send some Zenits to give us a car chase.



Keys himself merges onto a car so he can give chase.



Despite being injured, Tatsuya insists on continuing to drive, even as Keys comes within ramming distance. But the pair manages to escape him and blow up the other car (I hope whoever owned it had insurance). Ayase then insists on taking the wheel, since he can tell that Tatsuya is too injured to keep driving.



Once they’ve given him the slip, Tatsuya and Ayase have a talk, in which Ayase admits he was scared to take up the wheel again, which was why he never mentioned being a pro racer before. But Keys soon catches up with them by hijacking a truck, which proves a short lived option to give chase. Ayase resumes by mentioning how Tatsuya’s “changing your tomorrows” speech really stung him, before Keys corners them in a quarry, with Tatsuya taking the chance to try and help Ayase get over having given up what he loves as it drives him to try and commit a heroic death.



The other three arrive, already transformed, to blast the attacker with their guns (Yuri’s being introduced as the VolSniper).



And it turns out the case that Tatsuya and Ayase were carrying is full of the All-Star Batman diet for healthy child growth.



It turns out that Tatsuya and Ayase were the real decoys, while Yuri and the other two transported the money through normal procedures. The whole point of this exercise was to distract Keys long enough to deliver the real bills to the bank safely. And now that that’s over with, Tatsuya and Ayase equip their suits, before giving us our first roll call.

Tatsuya: TimeRed!

Ayase: Blue!

Yuri: Pink:

Domon: Yellow!

Sion: Green!

All: Timeranger!



But Keys refuses to come quietly and summons the Zenits, forcing a fight after Tatsuya and Ayase Chrono Access their Double Vectors.



Tatsuya deals with the Zenits he’s fighting using his new Heat Up: Spark End technique to blow them up, with Ayase doing likewise with his Vector Hurry attack. The two then team up to strike at Keys with a double attack known as Vector Around, before Tatsuya performs the Beat 3. When Keys survives this, Tock radios with more information.



And so, Tatsuya and Ayase debut their own gun weapons purely to introduce our team cannon for the season.







Keys tanks the Press Refreezer blast by triggering his own Rebound, figuring he has nothing left to lose. Tock then summons the TimeJets with the Emergency System, and the Timerangers form Time Robo Beta. When Keys tries to jack it, Yuri has them separate and reform into Time Robo Alpha, which is able to defeat and refreeze Keys. The Time Jets return to the future, as Sion takes note of their ongoing mystery.



Later, back at the apartment, Tatsuya fully debuts his new service by revealing their brand name.



And he reiterates what they’ll be doing: Tatsuya will run a karate dojo, Sion will run a repair shop, Yuri will be a detective, Domon will teach self-defence (again, sounds redundant when you?re also running a karate dojo) and a now more onboard with things Ayase will be a driving agency. Yuri points out that his 30th century license is probably well before the date valid.



The episode then ends with Tatsuya trying to convince a reluctant Domon to wear their new crew jackets (which you’ll have to wait until next week to see), while Tock worries over the future.

Final thoughts: After a first episode introducing the future characters and a second episode focused on introducing Tatsuya, we’re clearly in the “introduce everyone one at a time” territory. Granted, we don’t get a detailed look at just why Ayase gave up driving for suicidal depression, but we?re only 6% of the way into the series. We also get an interesting action sequence in the form of the chase scene (which actually goes on longer than a lot of bike scenes in Kamen Rider, to beat a dead horse), and a rather clever plan to defeat him.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

so physical money still exists in the future. Okay

I remember how in our country we were very proud of the spread of cards and phone payments, and therefore planned to gradually phase out cash. But now the power is out for 15 hours a day, so everyone is very happy that we haven't gone as far as completely eliminating cash. So I think some kind of cash equivalent will still exist in the future, in case of major disasters or a computer uprising. Alternatively, everyone will keep briefcases of gold at home.

[Androzani84]

Time for our second review of the week with…

Time Force 3: Something to Fight For

We open at the prison the mutant gang teleported back in time, which is now inexplicably on its side in the woods, despite being shown to land in the city upright in the previous episode (the Watsonian reason being that they switched to depicting the exterior through stock footage from Timeranger).



As Nadira counts up the cash she managed to steal, Ransik sits in his office or bedroom or whatever, as what appears to be liquid Mercury oozes out of his skin. (Eurgh)



Fortunately, he packed a medicine for whatever he’s suffering from (judging by how many vials he has on hand, and he drinks it rather than injecting it it?s more likely to be a medicine than a straight up antidote or vaccine).



The next day, at the beach, the 4 Rangers scrounge the remains of the time ship for anything useful, and Trip finds something under a piece of rubble that Katie lifts one handed thanks to the magic of… I want to say, a crane?



Inside is Time Force’s counterpart to the Time Flier, the Time Jet (how Trip knew it would be there, I can’t say, since Alex never mentioned it).



Nearby, Jen and Lucas manage to fix up a communicator to speak with Captain Logan. He seems to have forgotten he fired these guys and entrusts them with capturing Ransik’s gang. And instead of being trapped there by themselves because of rules, the reason Time Force can’t send help is because the ship the Rangers stole and blew up was their only Time Machine (then why are you called Time Force?! Time Fraud sounds more like it).



Meanwhile, Wes is being driven through the city to a meeting, and for some reason, his tie isn’t tied.



But when he sees Nadira robbing a bank, Wes tells the chauffeur Phillips that he’s cutting out of the meeting and moves in to try and stop them. An attempt that gets derailed both because of his lack of powers or fighting prowess, and the fact Gluto took hostages along with the money.



Wes is quickly overwhelmed and cornered by Nadira in a fight. The only reason he doesn?t die is that the other Rangers appear to save him by shooting one of Nadira’s nails off (Vanity! Her one weakness).



In the aftermath, Jen calls Wes out for his reckless heroics, telling him he’d be a horrible Ranger because he’s a silver spoon trust fund brat who’s never struggled in his life (Apparently, wanting to genuinely save lives counts for nothing with this bitch). Meanwhile, Nadira whines to Ransik about her broken nail, which makes Frax decide they should defrost a mutant to destroy the Rangers, choosing the Jerata (the use of a definitive article makes it seem like that’s a species or stage name).



Back at his house, Wes gets introduced to his father?s business associates (and the latter seems remarkably blas? about Wes skipping out on a meeting, despite what Phillips implied earlier) as the heir to the latter’s company, Biosynth.



He then gets a chance to opt out of an awkward conversation with some old farts when he sees Trip hiding in the bushes.



Trip explains that Jen’s seeming hatred for Wes stems from the fact he looks like her dead fiance Alex. And we get a cut to Jen back at the beach with a prominent focus shot of her ring.



Wes ducks out of the house to join the others at the beach, gently speaking to Jen to persuade her to grant him one last chance as a Ranger. Meanwhile, Ransik unleashes Jerata (portrayed entirely by stock footage of Jecker) to destroy the Rangers… which he does by flying to the docks and attacking a load of randomly gathered, suspiciously Asian cops. (I’ve noticed the series struggles when they have to work with the Sentai elements, but I’ll go into more detail in the Final Thoughts)



Sensing this, Circuit warns the Rangers, and Jen gives Wes the Red Morpher again.



After Morphing, the group enlarge the Time Jet to seamlessly blend with the footage - I mean, get there quick enough to prevent loss of life.



They arrive, and we get the TimeRed vs Jecker battle footage getting used, even down to Wes hitting the seal on Jerata?s shoulder.





Here, the growth is explained as a result of mutant DNA being exposed to air (which is pretty nonsensical and makes me wonder if the writers even know what DNA is). And whereas Captain Ryuya had to wait through a whole impassioned plea from Tock to grant permission to use the 3D Formation System, Captain Logan immediately sends the Rangers the Time Fliers (so the Time Flier becomes the Time Jet and the TimeJets become Time Fliers. Because that’s not gonna get confusing)..



, which thanks to data uploaded to their visors, can combine into the Time Force Megazord Mode Blue, which is helpfully labelled as a Time Robo with a big b to indicate it’s Mode Blue.



(I am of course, making this crap up as it’s a relic of the Timeranger footage)

After an aerial battle with Jerata, the Megazord splits apart and reforms into the Time Force Megazord Mode Red, which is able to finish off the mutant and shrink him back down to the size of a doll.



After the battle, the episode ends with Jen allowing Wes to keep the Morpher this time, accepting him as part of the team.



Final thoughts: A much stronger offering than the first two episodes, that gives the characters on the heroes’ side more to them, after they came off as slightly one note in the pilot (right now, the villains are still a bit one-note). I’ve noticed this show does better when it’s working with its own elements, rather than the ones from the Sentai, with this episode in particular getting weaker once we got to the battle with Jerata.

[DreamSword]

Koichi Sakamoto has said in interviews that a big inspiration for him when it came to directing Power Rangers was Jackie Chan movies. And I feel like you can definitely see that in episode 3 of Time Force.

That civilian fight with Wes towards the start of the episode? It's shot like an action sequence right out of one of Jackie's' movies. Just played more for drama rather than comedy, given that it's a sequence meant to humble our new Red Ranger a bit.

And while this episode is primarily focused on Wes(with a bit of Jen), I just wanna make it known now that Trip is my favorite character this season, and this episode shows a big reason why. As an empath, he's got alot of empathy for others. Shown here by him going out of his way to try and build a bridge between Wes and Jen.

I also gotta note that rewatching this show now, with alot more knowledge of tokusatsu in general is proving to add an extra layer of fun for me. Like how I now notice that this episode's' monster of the week is made in reference to Gamera. Or, even internally with Power Rangers itself, how Time Force would either establish or codify various tropes that fans online would have quite mixed feelings on in the future.

Lastly, a warning for anyone who wants to watch along via the official YouTube uploads: The official playlist is WAY out of order, so be careful with that.

Still having a blast, as always.

[Androzani84]

Alright, let’s get on with week 4, starting off with…

Timeranger Case File 04: The Hostage is an Alien 05/03/2000

Unusually, we open not on the heroes, or the regular villains, but our escaped criminal for the week, Kidnapper-Murderer Nabal, as he uses invisibility to stalk a pair of kids (No, I am not going there… yet).



Nabal shifts into his human disguise and approaches the two kids, who are looking for a fun game to play.



And now I can make that joke, as we cut to one of the kids’ mother receiving a phone call in the dead of night, having not seen her child all day.



He demands a ransom in exchange for their safe return. Elsewhere, we cut to Londarz, where Lila is counting their gains.



As she and Dolnero wonder when they’re going to get more money in, Gien reveals that he’s already sent out Nabal.



He reveals that Nabal was locked up for 200 years for kidnapping and murdering (well, duh), after which Dolnero reveals his grand goal in collecting money is to build an enormous solid gold castle which only he and the Family will live in. Meanwhile, Sion is opening for business and we get our first look at the Tomorrow Research uniforms (with Sion’s being sleeveless).



He then goes inside to try and see if he can help the others, but Ayase is memorising motor terminology (apparently, speed limits aren’t a thing in the year 3000)?



Yuri is watching a news report on kidnapped children (how convenient)…



And Tatsuya is writing a sign for his business using calligraphy. Which Sion proceeds to accidentally ruin, before deciding to go and help Domon.



As Tatsuya watches Sion goes and basically thinks “That boy ain’t right”, Yuri’s news channel viewing gets some focus.



Domon, as it turns out, is trying to recruit women to join his self-defence class. Unsurprisingly, they aren’t into a guy insisting they look like they could use some lessons from him.





Sion tries convincing Domon to teach him self-defence, but since the latter isn’t a woman (at least out of suit), Domon pays him no mind… until Sion’s declaration of love causes the woman Domon was trying to hit on, er I mean recruit, to storm off in disgust.

Domon’s response? Throw Sion over a fence! And then leap down to save him, because he’s not that bad a guy.



As Domon leaves Sion to fend for himself, he stumbles upon Nabal (though he doesn’t know this, obviously), once more trying to lure kids with promises of candy.



But these kids are too smart to fall for that, so he has to settle for the friendly green-haired guy looking for his friend.



As Domon returns to the apartment to reveal he basically left Sion in the lurch, Yuri has reached a break in the case.



As if on cue, Nabal calls them with his ransom demand for Sion (so was his captive carrying one of those bracelets with an emergency number, or is Tomorrow Research improbably already in the phone book?)



Tock can tell it’s not a prank, because the voice matches that of Nabal, a known child kidnapper.



Elsewhere, Nabal lets Sion know he’s been kidnapped and reveals his true face.



But fortunately for the others, when Sion calls to let the others know he has been kidnapped and that there are two children there, Tock tracks his location, while Tatsuya voices his thoughts.



Tock clarifies a big bombshell in response.



Tatsuya is shocked to learn that Sion is an alien (me personally, the title was a bit of a giveaway), which leads Domon to reveal that “alien” is a slur by the 30th Century.



And Ayase points out the obvious fact that should’ve been staring Tatsuya in the face (I mean, what did Tatsuya think those guys were if not aliens? Yokai?)



Tatsuya: Oh wow! So aliens exist…

Domon: Like I told you, stop calling them aliens!

Tock finds Sion’s location and the others head out to rescue him, as Tock explains Sion’s status as the last of his species in the known universe, thanks to a war in the year 2984.





Tock’s continues to explain that Sion was treated more as a curiosity as the only known survivor of his species and for his super-intelligence, so one day he ran away. The other Timerangers are the first friends he ever had, which makes Domon feel even guiltier. Meanwhile, Nabal decides to up his game.



But Sion stops him from killing the kids and attempts to fend him off without using his Chrono Suit.



But the others arrive in time to prevent Sion from meeting a grizzly end and assure him that they’re his friends. And thus, they strip down to their futuristic bathing suits to transform.



Domon: TimeYellow!

Sion: Green!

Yuri: Pink!

Tatsuya: Red!

Ayase: Blue!

All: Timeranger!

Domon: Londarz, You’re under arrest for violating the Time Protection Law!

Domon decides he?s going to take Sion’s offer up and beat up Nabal by himself.



But Nabal declares he’s no pushover as he’s able to fight back effectively.



And we get our first insert song for the season, Chase Timeranger. And unlike the Hurricaneger thread, I will be providing karaoke for the songs, courtesy of my chosen subbing group.

The exciting battle of the century has begun!

Rise up in the light...
...you invincible five!

That conspiracy to twist the future

Violently punch it out with that fist of justice!

Chase those lawless punks to the end of times!

That evil lurking in the pitch-black darkness

Cut it up! Slice it cleanly with twin blades!

Now! Chase! Chase! Chase! TimeRanger!

With that strength that protects dreams!

Oh! Fight! Fight! Fight! TimeRanger!

Tear down that wall of time!

Sion gets invited to join in after a brief grapple, and ends up defeating Nabal with his own Vector End variant. Vector End: Beat Nine.



The 5 summon and fire the Voltech Bazooka… but Nabal triggers a rebound to escape it, resulting in our giant battle. Nabal tries tossing TimeRobo Beta away, but they’re able to bounce back by USING THE SKY AS A TRAMPOLINE!



They then switch into TimeRobo Alpha, and defeat Nabal with the Press Blizzard, with Domon debuting our “post-victory catchphrase” for the season.



Sometime later, Yuri puts the frozen Nabal alongside Jecker and Keys in her cabinet (now helpfully labelled “Do not disturb”).



Everyone is now fussing over Sion, as Domon proves ana ctually quite capable medic.



Tatsuya notes that now he knows Sion isn’t human, he can stop wondering if his green hair is dyed (the IRL answer: it was and it wasn’t, since the actor didn’t want to dye his hair green for a whole year. So it’s actually colour corrected blonde hair)… only for Sion to reveal that it IS dyed.



The epusode proper ends with Tatsuya and Domon getting weirded out by their Hubbardian team mate again… but the preview for next episode is notably different, not only for using different music, but being almost entirely narrated by Yuri.



Will Yuri choose to arrest this criminal, or execute him? Find out in Timeranger Case File 05: The Third Formation.



Final thoughts: A slightly darker episode than usual, given our criminal’s M.O, and his willingness to murder children for money. But it also gives us some extra context towards Domon and Sion, and gives them a bit of a bond that will hopefully pay off in later episodes.

[Androzani84]

And on to our second feature of the week, with...

Time Force Episode 4: Ransik Lives

(I didn't even know he'd been dead up until this point)

We open on our foursome from the future, who are still living on the beach (and I?m wondering how much time has passed in this show).



Trip is trying to fish up something for them to eat, but all he succeeds in catching is sole.



And then Wes pulls up on his bike with a solution to their housing problem.



Trip expects something fancy, given the place Wes lives in... only for the four to discover that Wes has set them up in an old clock tower from the Wild West days (either that, or some architect really envied Big Ben).



Even worse, the building doesn't seem to have been cleaned since whoever owned it last died/moved out (probably the former).



But Jen decides they should stay in the old abandoned building that would realistically be either a historical landmark or condemned because... it has a window (so do Travelodge hotels, but I wouldn't recommend living in one). And so, the Rangers clean the place up quickly and Trip somehow finds a stand to mount Circuit on.



Meanwhile, Nadira is getting her nails done while watching cartoons (like most grown women of 30 do), in particular the "we don't have to pay the copyright for this" channel. (This is either a Saban owned toon, or public domain. Someone let me know)



This ends up giving Ransik the idea to go on tv to announce his future rulership of the world, for which Frax unfreezes Fearog (who uses the Nabal costume), who instinctively attacks the Cyclobots, mistaking them for Time Force (why, I don?t know. There?s no indication anyone other than Ransik uses these robots)





Meanwhile, the Time Force team have finished renovating the clock tower into the main set for the season.



Wes shows up with a briefcase of colour coded clothes so they're not stuck in the same white leather uniforms all season.





And then Wes forces Trip to wear a hat on top of his chosen outfit to cover his distinctive crystal (sure, but wouldn't a headband work just as well and be less conspicuous?).



Wes: I don't know if the public are quite ready for a Xybrian yet.

And then we cut to Jen getting dressed with the standard male gaze shot (if you?re about to blame Sakamoto, this episode and the next were directed by a guy named Kaizō Hayashi).



Wes and Jen go downstairs to meet with an old man (named by the credits as "Ivan"), who assumes they're moving in to reopen the odd jobs business that used to be based there (and if you think the Rangers living in a clock tower wasn't unsubtle enough, look at the name of the place).



Jen takes the job, and so we cut to the two Rangers repainting Ivan's tv studio pink.



Jen ends up leaving to get more paint after Wes accidentally knocks the can over... just in time for the Cyclobots to appear to take over the studio.



He manages to deflect attention from himself by claiming to be "an average, ordinary painter. Love to paint"... until one of them checks again and sees the Morpher on his wrist. One fairly poorly choreographed fight later, Wes is captured and turned into part of the audience for Ransik's TV debut.



Ransik demands they surrender to him by having Fearog blow up a rock in a quarry (not even the whole quarry. Just one rock. Are we sure Ransik is dangerous?), and threatening to do worse. Meanwhile, Jen gets informed of the situation by the others (who she didn't tell where she was going. Some leader she is) and soon finds where the Mutants are holed up thanks to a set of footprints they left in the spilt paint (What I want to know is who made those footprints? And why did they step in the paint to begin with).



Back in the studio, Ransik decides to share his backstory with Wes so he has both sides. Namely that in the future, scientists created a way for people to give birth to whatever kind of babies they wanted (which sounds an awful lot like eugenics. Not really the sort of topic you'd expect a show created by Jews from a nation founded on the back of the Holocaust to promote).



But what they'd surgically extracted developed sentience and smashed its vial, pouring itself into the sewers, where it merged with everybody?s pee-pee and poo-poo to evolve into Ransik.



Ransik tried living among humans, but was rejected for his grotesque appearance, so he formed a gang of mutants to overthrow society and gain acceptance (where'd these other mutants come from? Never explained).



Wes states that though he sympathises with Ransik's backstory, he doesn't agree with his methods of going back in time to before Time Force existed and killing innocents in misguided revenge. So Ransik departs, leaving his captive at the mercy of Fearog. But the other Rangers soon show up for the save.



Wes is untied and morphs, before the battle moves outside. It's an abruptly executed sequence in which Wes kicks Fearog through a wall and everyone pulls out some Star Trek reject props to shoot him. (I can see why Hayashi never did any Toku beyond these two episodes. His fight choreography is terrible)



Fearog exposes himself and grows giant, with the Rangers summoning the Megazord for a battle. While we don't see them trampoline off the sky, the Megazord does change modes (albeit it didn't do anything in Mode Blue as a result of the edit) and Katie gives our one liner of "Your time's up", despite not doing anything in this episode. Tl;DR is that Fearog is defeated and arrested. Some time later, Ivan pays the Rangers for a job well done, making them decide to open Nick of Time as a legitimate source of income.



Wes then admits to Jen that he's starting to feel sympathy for Ransik, to which she proceeds to shut down any idea that Ransik is supposed to be sympathetic.

Jen: Look, don't let him try and fool you. People did try to help him, but he turned them away. He wants power, and he'll do anything to get it and we;ve gotta stop him. He's evil, through and through.

But this serious conversation is derailed by everyone having a pizza party.



And rather than end on that note, we, for no apparent reason, cut to Ransik in the flashback yelling "No!" to end the episode.



Next time: Lucas takes Wes for a drive and Nadira embarks on a career in bank robbery, so we get some car chase action.

Final thoughts: You may be expecting a compare and contrast, but to be honest, there's little to compare. Beyond the Megazord battle and the Nabal/Fearog costume, these were very different episodes.

As for the episode itself, while well written and adding some much needed depth to Ransik (even if, as Jen says, it does nothing to make him any kind of Magneto/MLK figure), it suffers from some contrivances (the idea that there was an odd jobs shop based in a clock tower, just so we can have an equivalent to Tomorrow Research), things that seem there to be cool (a clock tower would be an awful place to live. No electricity or running water, for one) and atrocious fight choreography. And given how little Sentai footage there is in the episode, I imagine that is the only reason this lack of effort help up in the finished programme.